The World Geography is dedicated to lists of trivia. We write about natural wonders, unusual tourist destinations and odd geographical facts. Also, every fact, destination or geographical term is accompanied with photo that has been chosen with great care.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

16 Weird Facts From Around the Globe

The only royal palace used by a monarch in the U.S. is located in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the Iolani Palace and belonged to the monarchs King Kalakaua and Queen Lili'uokalani until the monarchy was overthrown in 1893. The building then served as the capitol building until Hawaii became a state in 1959. Today the Iolani Palace is a museum.

Spain is the European country closest to Africa. In fact, the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla are the only European territories on the African continent. This area is Spanish exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Mainland Spain is only 12 miles away from Ceuta. You can take a 35 minute ferry from Ageciras on the southern coast of Spain, to Ceuta. From there you can enter Morocco to visit cities like Tangiers, Casablanca and Fez.

The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's two largest cities. A location was chosen which was 248km (154mi) from Sydney and 483km (300mi) from Melbourne. It is unusual among Australian cities, being an entirely planned city.

The Canary Islands were named after dogs, not birds. In Roman times, the islands were known for the wild dogs which roamed there. The Latin word for “dog” is “canis” and so they were christened the Canary Islands. When explorers visited the islands in the 16 th century, they brought home pretty little singing birds which they had found there and which they duly named “canaries”.

Roads on the Pacific island of Guam are made with coral. Guam has no sand, all the “sand” on the beaches being ground coral. So this coral sand is used for mixing concrete rather than going to the expense of importing real sand from other countries.

With one child born every 1.26 seconds in India the population is expected to grow rapidly and will at current rates become the most populated place in the world by 2075 with a projected population of 1,900 million.

The largest deposit of salt on the planet is found in Bolivia. The Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni salt beds or salt flats) contain over 64 million tons of salt! Believe it or not what you see in the picture above is SALT! When it rains the water forms a thin layer on top that reflects the entire sky!

One of the most awesome facts that you’ll ever hear about these isles, is that roughly only 2% of the islands are inhabited. Think of the islands that you know & that figure only represents 2% of the total islands that are down there. It is amazing the amount of land, there is down here, only seen and roamed upon by wildlife.

Mt. Everest grows about 4 millimeters every year: the two tectonic plates of Asia and India, which collided millions of years ago to form the Himalayas, continue to press against each other, causing the Himalyan peaks to grow slightly each year.

14. Chinese Unused Homes

These skyscraper in Chenggong, where there are already 100,00 new homes, should be bustling with life but are instead empty photo source

By 2025, China will build sufficient skyscrapers to make up 10 New York-sized cities, yet China has 64 million unused homes, including whole empty cities. Build and populate later is China's policy, as can be seen also in Las Vegas and Spain.

The Longest Street in the World is Yonge Street (pronounced “young”), referred to as “Main Street Ontario”, connects the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto in Canada to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Actually, it starts on the Toronto lakeshore and winds its way northwesterly along Highway 11 to Rainy River, Ontario, at the Minnesota border. Yonge Street is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at 1,896 km (1,178 mi), and the construction of this street is designated an Event of National Historic Significance.

16 comments:

The Guinness Book of World Records was wrong, concerning #15. Yonge Street is less than 100km in length. Considering that Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe are nowhere near 1000 miles apart, it would be hard to have an 1178-mile road running between them.

Check here: 1.http://bit.ly/zrEdY - Wikipedia2.http://bit.ly/nEuXT2 - Google Maps3.http://bit.ly/n7nd6M - Ask YahooYonge Street мaybe not meet some conditions to be the longest street in the world, but she is officially the longest street, at the moment.Thank you for your interest...

This is somewhat inaccurate. Icelandic homes do not need water heaters as hot water is piped from hot springs. No geysers are harnessed in the process. The title should rather be "No water heaters in Iceland" not "No Water Heater at Iceland"

Genuine love is volitional rather than emotional. The person who truely loves does so because of a decision to love. This person has made a commitment to be loving whether or not the loving feeling is present. ...Conversely, it is not only possible but necessary for a loving person to avoid acting on feelings of love. Cheap Flights to Goa

That one in China is no surprise. Their government are only so much into building all those impressive structures as a manifesto of their power. But the truth is that they are as 3rd world to most of their neighbors. Their most luxurious won't even come close to what I have in my luxury home builders maryland.